Glycosylation of the murine erythropoietin receptor

An extracellular region of the erythropoietin receptor of the subterranean blind mole rat Spalax enhances receptor maturation

Erythropoietic functions of erythropoietin (EPO) are mediated by its receptor (EPO-R), which is present on the cell surface of erythroid progenitors and induced by hypoxia. We focused on EPO-R from Spalax galili (sEPO-R), one of the four Israeli species of the subterranean blind mole rat, Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, as a special natural animal model of high tolerance to hypoxia. Led by the intriguing observation that most of the mouse EPO-R (mEPO-R) is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), we hypothesized that sEPO-R is expressed at higher levels on the cell surface, thus maximizing the response to elevated EPO, which has been reported in this species. Indeed, we found increased cell-surface levels of sEPO-R as compared with mEPO-R by using flow cytometry analysis of BOSC cells transiently expressing HA-tagged EPO-Rs (full length or truncated). We then postulated that unique extracellular sEPO-R sequence features contribute to its processing and cell-surface expression. To map these domains of the sEPO-R that augment receptor maturation, we generated EPO-R derivatives in which parts of the extracellular region of mEPO-R were replaced with the corresponding fragments of sEPO-R. We found that an extracellular portion of sEPO-R, harboring the N-glycosylation site, conferred enhanced maturation and increased transport to the cell surface of the respective chimeric receptor. Taken together, we demonstrate higher surface expression of sEPO-R, attributed at least in part to increased ER exit, mediated by an extracellular region of this receptor. We speculate that these sEPO-R sequence features play a role in the adaptation of Spalax to extreme hypoxia.

beta-Trcp mediates ubiquitination and degradation of the erythropoietin receptor and controls cell proliferation

Control of intensity and duration of erythropoietin (Epo) signaling is necessary to tightly regulate red blood cell production. We have recently shown that the ubiquitin/proteasome system plays a major role in the control of Epo-R signaling. Indeed, after Epo stimulation, Epo-R is ubiquitinated and its intracellular part is degraded by the proteasome, preventing further signal transduction. The remaining part of the receptor and associated Epo are internalized and degraded by the lysosomes. We show that beta-Trcp is responsible for Epo-R ubiquitination and degradation. After Epo stimulation, beta-Trcp binds to the Epo-R. This binding, like Epo-R ubiquitination, requires Jak2 activation. The Epo-R contains a typical DSG binding sequence for beta-Trcp that is highly conserved among species. Interestingly, this sequence is located in a region of the Epo-R that is deleted in patients with familial polycythemia. Mutation of the serine residue of this motif to alanine (Epo-RS462A) abolished beta-Trcp binding, Epo-R ubiquitination, and degradation. Epo-RS462A activation was prolonged and BaF3 cells expressing this receptor are hypersensitive to Epo, suggesting that part of the hypersensitivity to Epo in familial polycythemia could be the result of the lack of beta-Trcp recruitment to the Epo-R.

Pure red-cell aplasia and antierythropoietin antibodies in patients treated with recombinant erythropoietin

BACKGROUND

Within a period of three years, we identified 13 patients in whom pure red-cell aplasia developed during treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin). We investigated whether there was an immunologic basis for the anemia in these patients.

METHODS

Serum samples from the 13 patients with pure red-cell aplasia were tested for neutralizing antibodies that could inhibit erythroid-colony formation by normal bone marrow cells in vitro. The presence of antierythropoietin antibodies was identified by means of binding assays with the use of radiolabeled intact, deglycosylated, or denatured epoetin.

RESULTS

Serum from all 13 patients blocked the formation of erythroid colonies by normal bone marrow cells. The inhibition was reversed by epoetin. Antibodies from 12 of the 13 patients bound only conformational epitopes in the protein moiety of epoetin; serum from the remaining patient bound to both conformational and linear epitopes in erythropoietin. In all the patients, the antibody titer slowly decreased after the discontinuation of treatment with epoetin.

CONCLUSIONS

Neutralizing antierythropoietin antibodies and pure red-cell aplasia can develop in patients with the anemia of chronic renal failure during treatment with epoetin.

Proteasomes regulate erythropoietin receptor and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) activation. Possible involvement of the ubiquitinated Cis protein

Cis is an Src homology 2 domain-containing protein, which binds to the erythropoietin receptor and decreases erythropoietin-stimulated cell proliferation. We show that Cis associates with the second tyrosine residue of the intracellular domain of the erythropoietin receptor (Tyr401). Two forms of Cis with molecular masses of 32 and 37 kDa were detected, and we demonstrate that the 37-kDa protein resulted from post-translational modifications of the 32-kDa form. Anti-ubiquitin antibodies recognized the 37-kDa form of Cis and the proteasome inhibitors N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal and lactacystin inhibited its degradation, showing that the 37-kDa form of Cis is a ubiquitinated protein, which seems to be rapidly degraded by the proteasome. In erythropoietin-stimulated UT-7 cells, the activation of the erythropoietin receptor and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) was transient and returned to basal levels after 30-60 min of erythropoietin stimulation. In contrast, these proteins remained strongly phosphorylated, and STAT5 remained activated for at least 120 min in the presence of proteasome inhibitors. These experiments demonstrate that the proteasomes are involved in the down-regulation of the erythropoietin receptor activation signals. Because the proteasome inhibitors induced the accumulation of both the ubiquitinated form of Cis and the Cis-erythropoietin receptor complexes, our results suggest that the ubiquitinated form of Cis could be involved in the proteasome-mediated inactivation of the erythropoietin receptor.

Cooperation of Spi-1/PU.1 with an activated erythropoietin receptor inhibits apoptosis and Epo-dependent differentiation in primary erythroblasts and induces their Kit ligand-dependent proliferation

Spi-1/PU.1 is a myeloid- and B-cell specific transcription factor which is also involved in Friend virus-induced murine erythroleukemia. The pre-leukemic phase of Friend erythroleukemia results from activation of the erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) by the spleen focus forming virus (SFFV) envelope glycoprotein, followed by the emergence of leukemic clones characterized by overexpression of Spi-1 and mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene. We developed a heterologous system to analyze the contribution of these alterations to the induction of primary erythroblast transformation. Avian erythroblasts expressing the activated mouse EpoR(R129C) differentiated into erythrocytes in response to hEpo. Expression of Spi-1 in these cells inhibited this ability to differentiate and rescued the cells from the apoptotic cell death program normally induced upon hEpo withdrawal. Although devoid of any effect by itself, a mutant p53 cooperated with Spi-1 and EpoR(R129C) to reinforce both phenotypes. Analysis of erythroblasts co-expressing Spi-1 and the wild-type mouse EpoR showed that differentiation arrest and inhibition of apoptosis depended on specific cooperation between Spi-1 and EpoR(R129C). This cooperation was also required to induce the sustained proliferation of differentiation-blocked erythroblasts in response to ligand activation of the endogenous tyrosine kinase receptor c-Kit. These results show that Spi-1/PU.1 requires signals emanating from specific cytokine and growth factor receptors to affect the survival, proliferation and differentiation control of primary erythroblasts. They also suggest that the function of Spi-1/PU.1 in the late phase of Friend leukemia requires specific signaling from the gp55-modified EpoR generated during the early phase of the disease.

A partial model of the erythropoietin receptor complex

A model of the structure of erythropoietin (Epo) is presented based on structural homology to other hemopoietic cytokines. A model of the erythropoietin receptor complex was made based on evidence that this includes a homodimer of the receptor chain with known sequence. Key interactions are noted which explain data from mutation experiments, although at not all residues believed to be important to binding of Epo are at the interface. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the Epo receptor complex includes proteins in addition to the cloned receptor chain that have been cross-linked to Epo (Todokoro et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:4126-4130, 1987; Mayeux et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266:23380-23385, 1991) but not isolated.

N-glycosylation-defective receptor for erythropoietin can transduce the ligand-induced cell proliferation signal

Erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) contains a single N-linked sugar in an extracellular domain. It has been suggested that an erythroleukemia cell line with high sensitivity to EPO expresses a high molecular mass form of EPOR, which appears to be a highly N-glycosylated form responsible for EPO-mediated signal transduction [Sawyer and Hankins (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 6849-6853]. To examine the role of the N-linked sugar chain, we prepared EPO-dependent cell lines expressing the wild-type EPOR and N-glycosylation-defective EPOR. There was little difference in the expression of EPOR on the cell surface, EPO binding kinetics, and EPO-induced cell proliferation between the clones expressing the mutant EPOR and those expressing the wild-type EPOR.